With the increase in litigation costs and court congestion, individuals and business entities are turning to alternative dispute resolution or "ADR" to resolve their disputes. While ADR denotes a variety of techniques to resolve disputes outside the courtroom, the following proceedings typically come within the rubric of "ADR": negotiation, mediation, neutral fact finding, early neutral evaluation, mini-trials, summary jury trials, arbitration and private judging.

Although each of these ADR methods has its own characteristics, they generally enable the parties to:

Resolve their dispute in a confidential setting; 
Establish deadlines and procedural rules governing the proceedings; 
Select the presiding official or "neutral" 
Contain litigation costs; and 
Maintain on-going business and personal relationships.

ADR may not be appropriate in all settings, for example, where:

The parties want a jury trial; 
The dispute turns on witness credibility; 
Public resolution of a novel legal issue (e.g. legal precedent) is needed to discourage similar claims; 
One wants to preserve full rights of appeal; or 
The possibility of settlement is so slim that ADR may only achieve educating the other side about the weaknesses of one's case.

Mediation 
Mediation is a non-binding structured process in which the mediator helps the participants reach a negotiated settlement of their differences. The mediator may use various techniques to help the parties reach a settlement, but does not have the power to render a decision. In its traditional format, the mediator is careful not to interject his or her opinion on the merits of the dispute. Instead, the mediator acts as a facilitator in helping the participants themselves arrive at a solution.

Although mediation is generally voluntary, it may be required in certain substantive cases. For example, recent legislation requires the Los Angeles Superior Court to refer all cases where the amount in controversy does not exceed $50,000 to mediation or arbitration. Similarly, disputes between schools and handicapped persons, certain labor disputes involving public entities and their employees, and child custody cases must be mediated.

Mediation allows the parties to preserve their business relationship and provides the parties a neutral, non-adversarial forum for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions. Mediations are confidential and can afford a more creative resolution of problems because the parties control the process. Sometimes mediation is combined with other ADR techniques. For example, the parties can agree to "med-arb". Med-arb typically involves an agreement first to mediate a dispute and then to arbitrate the dispute before the same neutral who served as the mediator if the mediation is unsuccessful.

Mediation, however, may not be advantageous where the parties are of substantially unequal bargaining strength because the stronger party may force a compromise on the weaker party. Where there is no genuine possibility of settlement, mediation may just educate one's "adversary" without resolving the dispute. Because of the confidentiality of mediation proceedings, mediation also may not be appropriate in test cases.

Post Mediation Conferences 
Long-term mediation sessions, usually about 6 sessions, for couples going through divorce. These sessions are offered to provide strategies and techniques for couples unable to sustain their mediation agreements.